Pygmalion effect: An issue for business education and ethics

This study reports the results of a survey designed to assess the impact of business education on the ethical beliefs of business students. The study examines the beliefs of graduate and undergraduate students about ethical behavior in educational settings. The investigation indicates that the behavior which students learn or perceive is required to succeed in business schools may run counter to the ethical sanctions of society and the business community. Michael S. Lane is Assistant Professor of Management at West Virginia University. He is the coauthor of An Integrated Approach to Curriculum Design/Redesign, Journal of Education for Business (1986), and Corporate Goals and Managerial Motivation, Mid-South Business Journal (1985).Dietrich Schaupp is Professor of Management at West Virginia University.Barbara Parsons is Assistant Professor of Commerce at Fairmont State College.     

The effects of tied and untied development loans

A decisive change now seems to be occurring in the development practices of the major OECD donor countries. Their own economic objectives are being moved distinctly closer to centre stage. Changes in the instruments of development policy are reputed to generate direct benefits for their own economies. The following article shows that such behaviour is questionable.     

Determination of the research of computer-based technologies for urban traffic systems some experiences in project organisation and management

Research and development activities concerning urban traffic systems are the subject of a long-standing program at the German Federal Ministry of Research and Technology. A fairly recent field of investigation is the deployment of computer-based technologies in urban traffic situations. The German Federal Ministry of Research and Technology has sponsored a study to determine a comprehensive middle-term research-program for these technologies.
The study contained the following steps of investigation:
(1) Determining possible areas of deployment for computer-based technologies.
(2) Selecting deployment areas from those generated.
(3) For the deployment areas selected, deriving the required research activities, coordinating and consolidating them into a research program.
Because of the comprehensive nature of urban traffic the know-how and results from many and diverse scientific disciplines had to be incorporated into the study.
As the study has significant real-life consequences for the direction and funding of urban traffic research by the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology it had to be ensured that its outcomes were operational.
To arrive at an operational research program, the study required inputs from areas, in addition to the scientific disciplines:
(a) politics (traffic policies in general, research and funding strategies etc.)
(b) industries (manufacturers of vehicles, electronic parts etc.) and traffic operating authorities.
Some experiences gained in managing the project are reported in this paper. They pertain to the study described. Hopefully, they can be put to use in some other projects of comparable structure and objectives.     

Are universal banks bad for financial stability? Germany during the world financial crisis

This case study explores the contribution of universal banking to financial stability in Germany during the recent financial crisis. Germany is a prototype for universal banking and has suffered from a rather small number of banking crises in the past. We review the banking literature and analyze the major institutional and regulatory features of the German financial system to establish a nexus between universal banking and stability. We focus on the following questions. First, which banks failed and did they because they were universal or because of other reasons? Second, which types of distress beside outright bank failures resulted from the crisis and how did German universal banks dealt with them? We show that only few German banks failed and these banks did so not because they were universal banks but because they were publicly owned. Most banks instead contributed to reduce the impact of the recent crisis.     

Raw materials in the foreign trade of the LDCs

The developing countries’ championship of what they term an “integrated approach for raw materials” is one of the livellest subjects in the Federal Republic of Germany. Bonn suggests a pragmatic, as distinct from an ideological, approach — for the benefit of the Third World. For this reason it has to be analyzed, whether the raw material sector is the ideal basis for the improvement of the existing situation.